New Books Network

About Dexter Fergie

Dexter Fergie is a doctoral student in US and global history at Northwestern University. His research examines the history of ideas, infrastructure, and international organizations.

NBN Episodes hosted by Dexter:

History November 13, 2020

The United States of War

A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State

David Vine

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
Since its founding, the United States has been at peace for only eleven years. Across nearly two-and-a-half centuries, that’s a lot of war. In his new book, The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State (University of California Press, 2020), David Vine tries to figure out why this has been the case. His book is a powerful, broad-sweeping, and, at …
American Studies October 29, 2020

Dead Tree Media

Manufacturing the Newspaper in Twentieth-Century North America

Michael Stamm

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
Michael Stamm’s book Dead Tree Media: Manufacturing the Newspaper in Twentieth-Century North America (Johns Hopkins UP, 2018) begins with the simple but thought-provoking premise that, not too long ago, newspapers …
American Studies September 17, 2020

Oil Powers

A History of the US-Saudi Alliance

Victor McFarland

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia is a critical feature of the modern international system. It binds the global hegemon to a region on the other side …
American Studies August 7, 2020

Just Like Us

The American Struggle to Understand Foreigners

Thomas Borstelmann

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
The American attitude towards outsiders has always been ambivalent. The United States, it is commonly said, is a nation of immigrants; today, it’s the most demographically diverse great power. But …
African Studies June 26, 2020

The Diplomacy of Decolonisation

America, Britain, and the United Nations during the Congo Crisis, 1960-1964

Alanna O’Malley

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
In the summer of 1960, the Republic of the Congo won its independence from Belgium. Only one week later, however, Belgium had already dispatched paratroopers into the country and the …
British Studies May 6, 2020

Liberalism at Large

The World According to 'The Economist'

Alexander Zevin

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
The Economist is a curious publication. It always takes a point of view (as opposed to the all-the-news-that’s-fit-to-print approach). It maintains a uniform voice (editors and writers are typically handpicked …
Communications April 27, 2020

Of Privacy and Power

The Transatlantic Struggle over Freedom and Security

Abraham Newman and Henry Farrell

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
We live in an interconnected world. People, goods, and services leap across borders like never before. Terrorist organizations, like al-Qaida, and digital platforms, like Facebook, have gone global. But, if …
American Studies April 10, 2020

Canada and the World since 1867

Asa McKercher

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
If you haven’t been able to tell by the way I pronounce the word “about,” I should probably let you know that I’m from Canada. And I have to make …
Australian and New Zealand Studies April 3, 2020

Human Rights in Twentieth-Century Australia

Jon Piccini

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
After the Second World War, an Australian diplomat was one of eight people to draft the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. And in the years that followed, Australians of many …
French Studies March 4, 2020

Mecca of Revolution

Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order

Jeffrey James Byrne

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
In his brilliant, category-smashing book, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order (Oxford University Press, 2016), Jeffrey James Byrne places Algeria at the center of many of …
American Studies February 28, 2020

Barriers Down

How American Power and Free-Flow Policies Shaped Global Media

Diana Lemberg

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
Since the 1940s, America’s relations with the rest of the world have been guided by the idea of promoting the free flow of information. It’s an idea that seems benign …
African Studies January 15, 2020

The Colonial Politics of Global Health

France and the United Nations in Postwar Africa

Jessica Lynne Pearson

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
International organizations throw up several obstacles—their immense scale, their dry bureaucratic language—to the historian trying to piece together their past. In her book, The Colonial Politics of Global Health: France …